ODOE: Report cards dont tell whole story

Published: August 19, 2003 8:00 PM

Report cards for Ohios school districts were released Tuesday, but no one, including the Ohio Department of Education, believes the results by themselves tell the whole story.

Tuesdays results were the first time scores were broken down by a variety of new measures, including race and socio-economic status. It is also the first year that districts had to include scores from students with disabilities and those whose first language is not English.

There is absolutely no way to compare this years results with last years results, said East Muskingum School District Superintendent Barb Hansen. This year utilizes a completely different measurement process, and it will take time to determine what these results actually mean.

Cambridge City School District took the hardest hit, achieving only nine of 22 indicators, resulting in an academic watch designation.

However, this is the first year that data has included all students as required by the No Child Left Behind legislation. Prior to this year, districts were not required to test disabled students, but that changed this year.

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Hansen was quick to point out that other students at-risk were also included in the calculations.

Hansen said there were nine student groups broken out in the test results including: the economically disadvantaged, Asian-Pacific Island students, African American, American Indian, Hispanic, multi-racial, Causasian, IEP students and LEP students, those who speak English as a secondary language.

For the next few years, the report cards will continue to reflect changing methods of evaluation. For example, the freshmen class entering the 2003-2004 school year will be the first required to pass the new 10th-grade performance evaluation as a requirement for graduation. However, next year those 10th-grade scores will be included in the report card evaluation.

Continuing, Hansen said, No one is opposed to meeting performance standards and being accountable. Obviously, the goal of all districts is to meet the needs of all their students. However, it does put districts at a disadvantage when constituents attempt to compare one district to another district or last years results with this years test scores. We will need to see the testing process stabilize before comparisons will reflect accurate information.

Susan Tave Zelman, state schools superintendent, echoed this comment in a release Tuesday.

This means we have a new system that is different, has new rules and creates a new starting point for Ohio schools, she said.

Zelman attributed significant declines in several testing areas across the state to changes in how students are measured. Those declines include an 8.9 percent drop is sixth-grade math, a 6.5 percent drop in fourth-grade citizenship and a 5.4 percent drop in fourth-grade science.

Statewide, the greatest improvement was shown in sixth-grade readers, with 65 percent of all sixth-graders passing the proficiency test, up from 58.2 percent last year, according to state figures.